Monday will see day 11 unfold in the murder trial of Paralympian Oscar Pistorius in the High Court in Pretoria.
On Friday, a former police officer admitted to the court that evidence was mishandled on the scene where the paralympian shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Giliam van Rensburg said he was dismayed to see a colleague pick up the handgun found on Pistorius’s bloodied bathroom floor without protective gloves.
“So I asked him what are you doing?” said Van Rensburg, adding that at this the ballistics expert looked down and realised he was bare-handed.
“And then he said ‘Sorry’,” said Van Rensburg, a now retired station commander who was the first policeman to arrive at Pistorius’s home after he shot Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day last year.
The admission came as Van Rensburg was answering questions from prosecutor Gerrie Nel, testifying notably that there was no sign of forced entry into the disabled track star’s home.
Pistorius has pleaded not guilty to premeditated murder, claiming that he believed there was an intruder hiding in a locked toilet cubicle in his home when he fired four shots into it, fatally wounding Steenkamp.
Sapa
– By Oscar Pistorius Trial: Week 3, Monday 17 March 2014
